The Guantanamo Trap
Logline: Recounts the story of Murat Kurnaz, who was born in Germany of Turkish heritage and detained and tortured at the US military base in Kandar, Afghanistan, and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and held for five years.
Synopsis: The Guantanamo Trap is a feature-length HD documentary that tells the stories of a number of people whose lives have been turned inside out by the so-called war on terror, such as Murat Kurnaz–a man picked up in Pakistan by the US military in late 2001–shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Intelligence showed that Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen and legal resident of Germany, had direct ties to Mohammad Atta, one of the 9/11 pilots, and Osama Bin Laden. Convinced they had caught a “big fish” and to get him to disclose the location of bin Laden, Kurnaz was subjected to hanging by chains, electrocution and “water treatment”. He was then shipped to Guantanamo Bay, where for five years he endured physical and psychological torture. Two years into his incarceration German and US intelligence determined that had been sold for bounty by corrupt Pakistani officials and had no ties to terrorism whatsoever. Incredibly, the German government, afraid of a political scandal, systematically blocked his return. Kurnaz’s personal ordeal will be interwoven with a number of personal stories exemplifying the complex dilemmas at many sides of the global conflict. One such story is of Navy Lawyer Matt Diaz. Diaz was charged with preventing outside legal counsel from reaching for as long as possible. Morally conflicted about his work, Diaz made a desperate decision that would cause his life to collapse. Diaz was privy to a classified database of detainees which he sent to Ms Olshansky, hidden in a Valentine’s day card. Confused, she notified the FBI–beginning Diaz’s nightmare that would strip him of his legal and military credentials, put him in prison, and leave him nearly homeless in New York. These and other personal stories will be told in first-person interviews, combined with metaphorical minimalistic reenactments with on-location shooting. These personal storylines will be organically woven into the fabric of the broader political and historical story that continues to unfold